This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
High pressure hydraulic systems (where system pressure is greater than 100 Bar) are often limited in the inner diameter of hose or tube that can be used before the burst pressure (i.e., pressure at which the hose will burst) falls below the working limit of the system. If large flows are required within these systems, it is often necessary to use thick-walled tubes. The fabrication process for these thick-walled tubes involves large tolerance ranges. The tolerance ranges of the tubes along with the tolerance ranges of the other components within the system often stack up, resulting in two connection points being out of plane with each other or otherwise misaligned.
Conventional joints are sometimes used to connect two points that are misaligned, but it can be difficult to connect the points without the conventional joints leaking or failing, in part because conventional joints may not maintain a proper seal. Often, the two points are misaligned in more than one direction. Conventional joints for high pressure, high flow hydraulic systems typically do not provide a way to connect two points that are misaligned in more than one plane, without the joints leaking or failing. For instance, Japanese Patent No. JP 2006-329387 A discloses a variable valve mechanism with an adjusting bolt, but the adjusting bolt only allows for adjustment in a single plane.